So in the picture above is the man of my dreams! Look at him all Tarzan style (he's swing on a real vine)...mmm... dreamy.. :D Well, I better stop or I'll get all mushy!Anyways, so the new update as off the begining of Januray ( I know I am waayyy behind!) is that Ryan has stopped working .COMPLETELY. This was a major decision that we had to make as soon as Ryan started up his second quarter of school and he realized that it was going to be even more intense then last quarter and last quarter was crazy! It was interesting, though. When we sat down to talk about it everything seemed so confusing and scary and then all of a sudden it hit us over the head that he SHOULD stop working for this quarter. This means that we have absolutely zero income at the moment.
Yeah, should be scary, right?
Well, it wasn't and it still isn't. It is so wonderful to be able to recieve revelation and then have faith that it will work out. I brings a lot of peace and joy to us.
One of our goals for 2012 was to not live off of student loans. We've had to take out some loans for his school tuition but have not had to live off of loans yet. That is such a blessing. A lot of people probably think it is crazy that here I am, a registered nurse, where I could go out and get a job starting at at least $35.00/hour and we have no income and I am not doing it. I get that is does seem crazy but what not a lot of people know is that while Ryan and I were both working we saved ALL of my paycheck and a good part of his because we knew:
he wanted to go on to more school
we would buy a house
we wanted to start a family
it was a priorty that I wouldn't have to leave our children.
So....
we do have a savings we are living off of. When I even think about leaving Claire to work my heart breaks and I know it is wrong for us, right now. Who knows, maybe when she can sleep through the night and is weaned it will be different.
Things are tight, but we are OK.
One of the reasons we are doing alright is that my parents are just incredible. My mom believes strongly in staying home as a mom and she and dad try so hard to help us do that too. They have done things like when both of our computers broke at the same time, they gave us a "spare" computer (really? Who just has a spare computer, they didn't really, but they insisted on giving it to us) Then when our dryer just randomly broke and I was planning out how to put up a clothes line in our back yard my parents step in with a spare dryer....Rrriiight...a spare dryer. Then there is all of the other things they help with. I cannot count the number of clothes, diapers, toys and books mom has gotten for Claire. There is just so much more that they do I can't name it all. They are amazing and we couldn't do this with out them.
So yes, our belts are tighter, yes splurging on clothes for Claire means shopping at the clearance section of a thrift store, yes we are going without in somethings, yes Ryan is selling his street bike yes we are sacrificing a little but we are happy and we know we are doing what is right for us. We will make it.
I definitely want my posterity to know that I think there is a lot of power and strength gained when you have to go without getting all of your wants and a lot of your needs. Life won't always be like this but we are grateful it is the way it is now and we can't even begin to count our blessings!
